Knights Stay In Tight Games By Keeping Players Active

Fantastic Friday - UCF notebook - Next opponent: Mississippi State

October 17, 1997|By Jerry Greene of The Sentinel Staff

If there has been a secret to the University of Central Florida's solid play this season, it might be that just two special-teams players have been lost to injuries. Snapper Scott Kairalla is out after breaking a bone in his left hand three weeks ago, and special-teams ''headhunter'' Chris Gunn was knocked out last week with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

While battered and bruised from their demanding schedule, which has included matchups with two top-10 teams and three Southeastern Conference teams so far, the Knights (3-4) have remained remarkably healthy.

''Our conditioning programs have had a lot to do with our lack of injuries,'' strength coach Reese Bridgman said. ''Special parts of our program are designed specifically to prevent injuries.''

Coach Gene McDowell added another factor: ''Playing hard is the biggest thing. You get hurt standing around. Be the hitter, not the hittee.''

A PERFECT LINE?

MCDOWELL PRAISED his offensive line for its work during UCF's 52-7 victory against Samford, saying the line had ''no sacks, no missed assignments and no penalties.'' McDowell said guard Ray Gould had nearly a perfect day, and center Chris Lorenti and guard Marcus Jenkins also were outstanding. McDowell also applauded the work of backup freshmen Ahmed El-Hawary, Daron Herndon and John Beauchamp.

DISTURBING STATS

TWO STATISTICAL areas - penalties and third-down conversions - are a growing concern. The Knights have been penalized 68 times for 535 yards, twice their opponents' total of 32 for 327. Said McDowell: ''About half of those have been dumb things, and that bothers me.'' Their third-down conversion rate is 34.4 percent (33 of 96), much less than their opponents' 42.6 percent (43 of 101).

TURN IT AROUND

A POSITIVE stat is that the Knights have 17 takeaways, compared with 11 turnovers - a plus-6 difference. ''That's quite a change from recent years,'' McDowell said. ''If we can keep winning the turnover ratio, we'll be hard to beat.''

FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT

AFTER TAKING this weekend off and then playing two road games, UCF plays its final two games at home. It has averaged 32,000 for the first two home games. McDowell expects the Knights to hold that average: ''For homecoming (Nov. 15 against Eastern Michigan), we have enough alumni to fill that stadium. We can top our record attendance from the Idaho game (41,827) - and in our last game (Nov. 22) against Toledo, too.''